Master & Commander

I discovered a while ago that Miss Lo is an interesting little being. Every time I think there is no way she can surprise me, she goes off and does it.

Lo's movie choices have always been different from the typical. When most kids love the Toy Story movies or maybe even Tangled, our Lo has always been a sucker for the period dramas. She of course loves all the musicals like Meet me in St. Louis or Sound of Music or Mary Poppins but she even loves Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility or really any period piece. And, she can spot one like no other. The other day she was in another room and Clay put on some period drama and just by the sound of the music that was playing she IMMEDIATELY knew it was something she would like and came sprinting in and said "What's that?". I don't remember what the movie was but it was a random one and she sat there in silence and watched the entire movie. I'm telling you...the girl is crazy about a period piece.

Anyway, during my travels Clay and Lo had a chance to get some quality time in. When I got back from one of my trips, I discovered her new favorite flick was Master and Commander.


Yep, not even kidding....this is now the movie she is requesting...a Russell Crowe vehicle. She will sit and watch this entire movie and will ask constant questions about the Captain (Russell Crowe) and the pirates. I'm assuming her Dado is pretty excited about this new love as this is one of his favorite movies. Me....not so much. I would much rather sit through Sound of Music or one of the classics over Master and Commander. But, like everything else, we just go with it.

With Lo's new love over Master and Commander, she has developed a new fascination with pirates. Clay is loving it because he wanted to be a pirate as a kid so I think he has enjoyed telling Lola stories about his childhood dream of being a pirate. With the new pirate phase, I loved when I found this book Pirates Don't Take Baths by John Segal.

Such a cute book and it goes right along with the pirate theme. Anyway, our Lo never ceases to amaze us. I love that about her. She's a unique little thing to say the least.

Another love of Lo's are milkshakes. This is pretty normal I have to assume. She asks for one just about everyday. We try to limit them as much as possible but we let her indulge in a milkshake or two fairly often. Here she is in hog heaven enjoying a milkshake at one of our new favorite places Hopdoddy. PHENOMENAL burgers! The beef burgers are great (some of the best I've had in Austin - all natural) but I usually go for the veggie or the tuna burger. I'm typically in hog heaven anytime I have either.

I, of course, can't leave our little Gainesy out. His favorite things are pretty simple. His mommy is one of them which I LOVE but another favorite...straws. Give this boy a straw and he'll be happy for hours!

Hope everyone recovered from the holiday weekend! If you're like me, you're likely exhausted. Have a good week! Hope to be back soon with some Marfa pics (much delayed I know) along with a dance recital post. Toodles!

Of a Kind

I'm LOVING this website Of a Kind these days! I think it's an absolute genius idea. So what's it all about anyway??? The two founders,Claire Mazur and Erica Cerula, created this site as they "find something thrilling about new designers, because it’s so easy to see their personalities in the things they make—in experiencing their products and process, you get a strong sense of who they are and what they’re about. " I completely agree with their thought process and have been inspired by many of their featured designers along with their stories since finding this site.

Each week, they select one designer whose work they love and feature it on the site. They share a series of stories about that designer—inspirations, personal life, taste, training, etc along with a limited-edition piece designed exclusively for Of a Kind. This is great to see for someone who is trying to now design some of their very own pieces:) (wink, wink)! There are several pieces and designers I'm dying over this week but I must limit it to my very favorites (bummer!).

This week I'm loving this dress by Ace & Jig.

I've been following Ace & Jig for a while and absolutely love their style. My style has changed so much over the past year (likely due to a second baby entering our life and I'm assuming Austin has had an influence on it). I truly feel the fashion you choose and the clothes you decide to wear on a daily basis can help reflect and show your personality. Fashion is a great way to show all those people out there who you are!

In the past, it seems I've struggled with what type of style I want to wear. I would go back and forth between styles almost daily. I used to be a bit frilly and cutesy and tried to add an edge ever so often. These days, it's out with the frilly and cutesy and I pretty much try to stick with all edge (or at least try to when I can pull it off). I rarely put on anything "cutesy" anymore. So strange. My style now is pretty straight forward. I always love a piece that can prove itself on it's own (like this Ace & Jig dress). At the same time, I like a piece to be versatile (like this Ace & Jig dress). I lean towards items that I can just throw on in the morning and look fabulous (like with this Ace & Jig dress) which is a must when you have two kiddos. But, I also want a piece that I can pair with a groovy accessory or shoe or even a jean and make it something totally different (like you could do with this Ace & Jig dress).

I've really had a lot of fun with this new turn I've taken in my "fashion world" and feel I've finally found who I am when it comes to fashion (It's only taken 35 years to get here). Now, even though I'm not content with my body right now (working on it through marathon training and now weight watchers so hopefully I'll get there soon), I'm still content in my clothes as I've scaled it back so much and have had fun doing different things with such great pieces.

Anyhow, one look I would love to put on my "almost there in probably 6 months" body is the Ace & Jig dress with these fabulous bracelets and clutch found on Something Trendy.


Wouldn't this be a match made in heaven or what?!?!?!

I do have one additional comment to make that may be a bit off subject. My want to push the "purchase now" button on the Ace & Jig dress made me think of something I heard last week. When I was in Louisiana driving from Shreveport to Monroe, the radio station I was listening to took a survey. The survey was "How old is too old to wear a mini-skirt?". Here I am not really paying attention as I thought the results would come in at an age at least over 40. I was thinking maybe even in the 50s. Seriously, mini-skirts/dresses (like the Ace & Jig dress above) are everywhere right now. Anyway, guess what age they came back with????? None other than 35!!!

Considering I'm turning 35 in about 3 weeks, the result of this survey sent me spiraling (and I wasn't spiraling up). Just when I had finally come to terms with my age. ARGH!!! With this, I guess I should go ahead and push the "purchase now" button NOW as once the dress gets here I'll only have a few days to wear it before I turn 35 and based on the survey this dress will no longer be appropriate for me to wear. Considering most of my spring/summer attire consist of shorter dresses and skirts, this might be an issue. I guess I'll just be a rebel and be an old mom who wears short skirts and dresses.

Lola on a high!

Lola is going through a major phase right now! The common saying is "terrible twos". Right?!?!? I believe it because we had it pretty hard at age 2 (So I thought!). What got me through the "terrible twos" was hearing a specific statement. The statement was if you had it hard at age 2 then age 3 is typically much easier. You either get one or the other. THANK GOODNESS!!! Well, DO NOT believe this. Age 3 has been beyond hard! Specifically the past few weeks. So much that at points, Lola has had me in tears....LITERALLY!

Like this weekend for example...I took Lo to run errands with me on Saturday. I told her she could go only if she promised to be good and stay right by my side the whole time. She stood by her promise in the first store. But store number two...not so much. She was running around like a wild child and I didn't know what to do. Then she found some balloon thing she wanted. I told her she couldn't have it but she insisted on whining and demanding that she wanted it. I stood by my word and said "Absolutely not" and further emphasized that if she continued to whine and ask me for the "balloon thing" that we were going home immediately. Well, with this comment, Lola took it upon herself to tinkle all over the floor. When I say "tinkle", I mean pee/urinate...all over the floor. YEP!!! I guess she was trying to show me who was the boss. Is this a hard-headed strong-willed girl or what???? Needless to say, I was beside myself.

It gets worse. When I found out what she did, I didn't know what to do. Do we run??? Do I go to a store employee and confess the deed with great embarrassment???? I decided on my first instinct which was RUN and run fast!!! Oh, did I mention we were on the second level of the store when the tinkle incident happened??? As we were running out, a store employee came up the stairs and was clearly looking for something. Apparently, some liquid substance was leaking down to the first floor and the employee was coming up to figure out what in the world it could be. With this, I had to go to Plan B and confess. It was all the bit as embarrassing as I thought it would be. I barely could get the words out of my mouth. When I finally did, I offered to clean up the mess and I did. Unfortunately, another employee had already been cleaning up the mess downstairs. Funny thing... they were letting the "liquid" drain into a coffee cup. NICE!!! So, that was just the start of a CRAZY weekend.

Even with all this, we still decided to go to lunch and hit up the Renegade Craft Fair. Lola continued to be somewhat difficult and the entire time kept saying "She wanted to go to Ally's house". If you remember, Ally is Lo's imaginary sister. This all sounds cute but when you have a child screaming and yelling to go to her imaginary sister's house, it can become a bit overwhelming. I finally said "Lo, I don't know where Ally lives". She said "Take two rights and three lefts and her house is right there". When we took a left before we took our "two rights" she started screaming "NO, Ally's house is that way!". Seriously, have no clue how to deal with a 3 year old. Any advice???

Anyway, we got through Saturday. On Sunday, for some reason, I decided to give Lola another shot and I took her to run errands with me again. First stop was Anthropology's big sale of the yea (It was fabulous BTW). Once again I had a big talk with Lo and told her she "Has to stay right by my side" and "Can't touch anything!" She tried to negotiate and said "If I promise not to touch anything breakable, can I touch the clothes?" I compromised and told her she could touch the clothes but only if she touched them "gently". For the most part, she did pretty well in Anthropology. The whole time she was saying "Here are clothes. Can I touch these?"and she did this for almost 45 minutes. Looking back I now know she was trying to test me.

Since we had so much success at Anthropology, I decided to take Lola to the mall to help me run my final errands. All I had to do was get some black work shoes and drop something off to be engraved. Simple right?!?!?! Well, unfortunately, it was a nightmare!!! At one point, Lo was crawling around the floor like a 9 month old, then pushing the stroller into cabinets, then hiding from me under clothes racks. I thought I was going to go insane.

Finally, I found a way to make it through the trip in one piece. Lola discovered a bungee/trampoline jump thing. Bad explanation I know. Anyway, Lo stood watching some big kids jump on the bungee/trampoline jump thing for about 15 minutes and decided she wanted to do it too. I told her if she acts real good, I'd let her do it....all along knowing she wouldn't really want to do it when it came down to it. Lo and behold, she was an angel the rest of the mall trip. Then, it was time to go on the bungee/trampoline jump thing and this child was dead serious....she wanted to do it. I was amazed! So, here it is:

Getting all bucked in...

At first she took it easy.

But, before I knew it, she was going all out. That's her bouncing all the way up to the second floor. Can you believe this?!?!?!?

Seriously, she has no fear! Then the challenge was pulling her away from the bungee/trampoline thing. She had to go twice and wanted to go again. Oh Lola!!!

Anyway, we spent 3 hours on a mall trip that should have taken 45 minutes but I got my errands done and survived. Now, even though I was up at 3:30 this morning to catch a 5:30 a.m. flight and I already miss my babies, I have to say I'm kind of glad to be in a peaceful hotel room and hope to get a good nights sleep!!!

Nite, Nite to all!!!

Two cities down, one to go...

I made it through quite a hectic week! My week started at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning (well, actually 2:33 a.m. if you consider Gaines waking and the fact that I didn't fall back asleep) then I was off. First stop Houston (layover), then to Pittsburgh.

I have to say I was unexpectedly impressed with the city of Pittsburgh. It was a bit rainy and gloomy but overall I really liked the city. Hopefully our client meetings were successful and they'll result in additional projects so I'll have the opportunity to go back and spend more time there. Strangely, I ran into two people I knew while there. Two people that were totally unrelated to my meetings. Weird huh??? One at the client's office and one at the airport. Totally random I must say! Client meetings ended Tuesday late afternoon, then I was off to the airport again.

One flight later I was back in Houston again (layover) and on to Shreveport and then to Monroe, LA (home of University of Louisiana) for yet another client meeting.

I was not quite as impressed with Monroe as I was with Pittsburgh. Although, it was nice to be back to warm sunny weather. Even though my impressions of Monroe were meek at best, I decided to take advantage of a hour free time I had on my hands and take a tour of the town thinking maybe I could find some hidden treasures. I knew I likely wouldn't be able to find a H&M to make a quick stop shop but thought surely there was a cute little area that had some sort of boutiques. Thanks to the smart phones, I was able to find probably the one area in Monroe that had some fun shops. I only had a hour to hit them up but I made a run for it (literally).

During my search, I found an adorable little boutique called HerringStone's Two Sisters' Boutique. When I walked in I saw they had Free People so immediately knew I was in the right shop. During my whirlwind shopping trip, I found this fabulous Lush green maxi dress.


I'm already pretty much obsessed with this dress! 1) It's my favorite color for the Spring/Summer...GREEN! 2) It's just too easy to slip right on. 3) You can do so much with it. Perfect! Lush is another one of those brands that I seem to migrate towards. I have a number of Lush items in my closet now and they are all items I tend to wear often.

Anyway, my travels didn't end with Monroe. I'm off to Florida on Monday. I'm in the middle of what I like to call "travel hell". The good news is due to all the flight/layover time, I'm almost done with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I'm in the "I can't stand to put the book down" phase right now. Hope to finish it next week during my travels to FL. I have to say Clay is a trooper and does real well with the kiddos while I'm gone. Lets face it, taking care of two little ones on your own (including one that wakes up every 2 hours in the night and one that's a raging 3 year old during the day) is not an easy task!

On another note, I'm SUPER excited about our weekend!


Yes, the time has come again!!! It's time for the Renegade Craft Fair. This really is a craft fair like no other. Let me tell you...just about every vendor is TO-DIE-FOR! This groovy fair only comes through Austin, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and London. We hit it up both days last year and we plan to do the same again this year! Can't wait to update you on our fabulous finds!

Happy weekend to all!!!

Hello Hannah!

Last night we decided to head to S. Congress and go to Guero's Taco Bar which is one of our regular spots for dinner. We basically know everyone there. As we were walking, I had an interesting feeling. With that feeling, Sandra Bullock came to mind. Weird huh??? For some reason I thought we may run into Sandy at Guero's. NO CLUE why but I really had this feeling. Anyhow, Sandra Bullock was not there but we did have another sighting.

Before I begin making a very short story long, I must remind everyone of my complete and utter obsession with America's Next Top Model (a.k.a ANTM). This has been a long time obsession. As a matter of fact, my initial confession of my love for ANTM came out in a blog on September 4, 2008 titled I must confess (how appropriate of a title). This is a definite weakness I have along with my obsession with all the Bravo shows. The good news is I still love good art, good music, good documentaries, good books, etc which I tend to use to help convince myself it's okay to have an ANTM obsession.

Now onto the real story (Is there one???).... here we are at Guero's enjoying our dinner. I must add it's so nice that we can have enjoyable meals with the kids now. It seems Lola has grown out of her "I'm going to be a complete terror child during dinner" phase and Gaines is just good all the time no matter what. Anyway, I'm scarfing down mass amounts of yummy chips and very fattening queso as I had just had a late afternoon 3 mile run and was STARVING!!! Just when I started scarfing up my din-din Clay says "Amy, Is that girl from America's Next Top Model?" As soon as Clay made this statement, I whipped around so fast that I'm surprise my head stayed attached to the bod. And, YES it was! Not only was it a contestant from ANTM but it was my favorite contestant from this season, Hannah, who sadly just got kicked off this week. BOOOOO!!!

I have to say I found it interesting that Clay was able to identify Hannah as he claims to "hate" ANTM. Hmmmm....he "hates" it yet he's able to spot a contestant in Guero's filled with lots of very pretty people?!?!?!? I loved this! I digress...now it's time to get on with the real story (Again, is there one????). When I realized who it was, I immediately said "OMG...It's Hannah...I'm going to talk to her now!". Clays response was "Surely you're not?!?!?". My response back was "Of course I am!!!!". With that, I leaped over to Hannah and said "I wanted you to win!". She immediately gave me a hug and said "Thank you so much!". Then, we proceeded to chit chat for a good 15 minutes. Oh how I got all the ANTM scoop and talked to her about her contract and what she plans to do with her career and what auditions she was going to in Austin and yada, yada,yada. I was in absolute hog heaven (Oh, and BTW, she is beautiful)!!! Clay is always amazed how I'm able to talk to anyone at anytime about any and everything and this moment didn't seem to let him down.

Lola finally came up and I said to her "Lo, This is Hannah. A model from America's Next Top Model....Our favorite show!" Lo was shy and didn't say much but Hannah said "Maybe you'll be tall like your mom and can become a model one day." Not that I ever want this for Lola (well, I want it if she wants it) but I thought it was cute.

Another side note related to ANTM (we seem to have many of these)...we don't let Lola watch any TV or movies during the week. Some days she'll come home from school and ask to watch a certain movie and we always say "No TV during the week". Maybe this weekend." Well, ironically, on Wednesday Lola gave the whole TV watching thing a shot. I, of course, said "No" and Lo's response was "Well, I want to watch America's Next Top Model." My instinctual response was to say "Ok...awesome!" but then I held back and thought...hmmmm....this is Lo's little way of manipulating me into turning on the TV. Wow! Is this a clever child or what?!?!?! I didn't fall for it.

Anyway, I have to say, I'm always a sucker for celebrity sightings. We've had a number of them in Austin which I love. But, this one is a fav especially since Hannah and I had our 15 minute talk. Oh, did I mention she told me to message her on Facebook and she would add me as a friend (private accepts only much...love it!). Maybe we'll become great friends and when she is as big as Gisele Bundchen, Clay will design all her houses around the world. Ahhhh....to be a celebrity's friend!

With this model sighting, it's fitting to mention how Lola has actually become pretty good at posing for pics these days. Here are some poses she threw out at us yesterday just before heading to Guero's.

And, of course, I can't end this blog without a picture of our adorable baby boy who ALWAYS has a smile on his face.


Recital photos/videos coming soon! I hope to have them up next week. I also still need to post Marfa photos but have 776 photos and 30 videos to sort through there. Wowsers! I'll be traveling over the next two weeks so it will likely be crazy times at the Odom house.

Have a great weekend all!

My favorite Tank!

This is my favorite tank right now which is by Material who makes all their tanks and tees from vintage t-shirts. I have a couple of them and really want to start making some on my own. They are all great to mix and match with anything and everything!

Happy Ears!!!

Would you ever believe this little guy was in the hospital this morning, given a mild anesthesia and had tubes put in his ears???? Well, he did and now he's up and at em' and just as happy as ever!

Now that the surgery has gone off without a hitch (well, you can hardly call it a surgery...more of a procedure), I don't know why we waited so long. There have been 3.5 very long months of lots of pain for Gainesy and lots of nights filled with no sleep all due to 8 ear infections with no break in between. Even as of last night, we were waking up every 2 hours. Seriously...this is worse than a newborn...and we've been doing this for 9 months! YIKES!!! Anyway, my hope is that our nights will be filled with peaceful sleep and little Gaines will feel 100%. Keep your fingers crossed!

Popsicle please!

Summer is close and the heat is already here which means Lola is constantly asking for a "Popsicle please!". It seems the urge for Lola's want of sweets never stops. As parents, we struggle with the sugar intake. We don't want to deny Lola of such great things like popsicles, ice cream, cookies, etc. as it's just not reality and frankly these are all things we grew up loving. But, we also don't want to inject Lola with all things bad (i.e. muchos sugar). With this, we always try to find ways to make things that are more natural and healthy but that are still enticing to Lola. We've done this by freezing grapes or bananas (which Lo LOVES) or we even have some great healthy cookie options where Lo can actively be involved in the making, baking and all (see below). However, we've yet to attempt to make our own popsicles. So I figured no time is better than now!

Growing up, I always loved my Snoopy Sno-Cone maker. I even asked my mom a few weeks ago if there was anyway they still have it packed away somewhere. Of course, even if it is packed away, it's not likely it would work so my "google" search began. I was absolutely thrilled to easily find the original Snoopy Sno-Cone maker.

As my research continued, I also loved some of these items from Uncommon Goods.

Ice Pop Molds - Sailboat, Rocket & Robot

Ice Pop Maker

And, finally, the Perfect Pops book featuring 50 party-ready recipes--from banana malted milkshake to prosecco-rose petal pops. Yummy!

Needless to say, I think our summer is going to be filled with lots of fun making of sno-cones and popcicles. A child's dream right?!?!?

We've had Lola in the kitchen cooking with us since she was at least 18 months. Now, anytime one of us is in the kitchen cooking (usually it's Clay), Lola is up on her stool helping....literally for every meal. She loves to be in the kitchen and loves to help cook. She can scramble eggs, cut bananas, mix brownies, help make salads, etc. I mentioned above that we have some great healthy cookie options which any child could easily be involved in making. This is one my mom found in the Family Fun magazine which I love. Lots of great craft ideas! Let me tell you...it is SO much fun to make these cookies with Lola and they are surprisingly DELICIOUS and healthy...gotta love it!

Recipe: First, punch shapes from whole-wheat tortillas with cookie cutters. We'll also just cut triangles, rectangles, squares, circles using a cup, etc. Next, lightly coat the shapes with cooking spray and then sprinkle them with decorator sugar (this is Lo's job). Bake them at 400 for 5 minutes.

I urge you to give it ago! You won't be disappointed by these cookies I assure you!

On another note, we had a HUGE weekend! Lola had her first dance recital. She did SO good! It brought tears to my eyes watching her because it was just so freakin' cute. I can't wait to post the pictures and videos later this week.

Also, Gaines has a little surgery procedure tomorrow. After 3 months of chronic ear infections and no sleep, we're finally getting tubes. Keep the little guy in your thoughts!

9 months ago today...

Man, I can't believe 9 months ago today my water broke and Clay and I slowly made our way to the hospital (we literally didn't make any quick moves due to the shock) and our little tike, Gaines, was born. Wowsers....it's been 9 months (have I already said that)! I know I say this often but it seems like it was just yesterday....really!

Boy, how this little guy has changed our life! All in a good way!!! I didn't think my life could be lit up anymore but Gaines's has managed to do it. I'm OB-SESSED with him! He absolutely melts my heart on a daily basis.

As we've approached the 9 month point, he's really become vocal lately. Even saying...."Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma" and "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da" and I think he's trying to say "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" (bottle).

Gaines is also crawling everywhere. For a while there I was chasing him around trying to make sure he wasn't putting anything in his mouth but I've given up on all that now (second child syndrome) and just let him go for it. There have been a number of occasions when he starts choking and all the sudden spits up some piece of paper or something or other that he found on the ground. Goodness! He can crawl on all fours but he seems to prefer the "army crawl" for some reason. That's okay, it helps give our floors a much needed scrub. I hope to get a video of him crawling up on the blog soon because it's a riot!

He's still just as smiley and happy as ever but he can also get fuss-a-lish! Specifically, when no one is paying attention to him....he'll start SCREAMING and doesn't stop until you give him some attention...then he's perfect. Clay and I say he's like a monkey. You know how baby monkeys always hang on to the back of their mama monkey and just sit there and never let go. Well, that's our Gainesy, he LOVES to be held and just snuggles into your body. He's just like a baby monkey. LOVE!

He's definitely a "Mama's boy" which I thoroughly appreciate. If Gaines is minding his own business playing or eating or if Clay is holding him and I walk in the room, he'll start going NUTS! Screaming for me and throwing his arms up for me to grab him. Or, my favorite is when he gets in the full-on crawl position and will try his hardest to get to me all the while SCREAMING. I love being loved as much as I love loving him so I'm not complaining about this little phase. I've always heard from friends who have boys how having a boy is so different....how the relationship between a mom and their baby boy is unexplainable. I never believed it because my relationship with Lola is so special and I always thought nothing could top it. Well, I'm not saying my relationship with Gaines tops my relationship with Lola because it doesn't but it really and truly is just different. Very different! In a way I can't explain. All you moms out their with boys know exactly what I mean and know exactly why I can't get enough of my baby boy.

Anyway, here is the little guy 9 months ago just after he entered this world.


And here he is today! Wow! How time flies! Before we know it, he'll be walking and talking.

We took this series of pics at ummm 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. Love the American Apparel suspenders. What a little ham he is! Before having our photo shoot, we had already eaten and bathed. Yes, he's an early bird. Even with that, so happy this little guy has entered our life!!!

Here's to hoping May brings more brightness!

I hardly can believe it's already May. Can you?!?!?! April was a very bright and HOT month. As a matter of fact, I just heard April in Austin tied as the hottest April ever in history. Yikes! Lets just hope this isn't a sign of what the Summer has to bring. Anyway, I love when Spring hits as I seem to always have a bright and happy feeling and that's what it's all about! As I was looking back through some of my favorite finds in April, it appears I definitely had all things bright on my mind. I thought I would give a recap of some of my favorite finds for the month of April.

First up...


When I first saw this line I just about fell over in my chair over the love for her stuff. My immediate thought was "I may never put my kids in anything else...only Tag you "r" it from here on out!" Then, reality set in and I realized I have muchos love for many other lines out there. With that said, I'm absolutely loving this line of clothes which are made from recycled, upcycled and other salvaged materials.

Dresses.

Adorable pants!

For the boys!

Another something that caught my eye in the month of April were these totes by New Domestic. They have several different patterns that are all fun and bright. Perfect kind of bag to "tote" to Barton Springs or the lake or even the beach if you're so lucky!

Have you noticed I have a thing for bags and totes!

Onto clothes...

This is one of my favorite dresses I purchased at Part & Labour by Madeline Wood that's full of brightness.

I pretty much try to avoid going into Parts & Labour for fear that I won't walk out empty handed. I also want this dress that just so happens to be called The Lola Dress. I guess I must have now...right?!?!?!

Some more brightness....

I love this Naya 'Alpine' Sandal.

I'm trying super hard this Spring and Summer not to automatically throw on a pair of flip flops every morning. So, I've been on a search for cute yet comfortable shoes. This shoe was a winner in this category. It's adorable and can brighten up any outfit and it's actually a "comfort" shoe. They are amazingly comfortable...literally feel just as good on as any old flip flop.

Also loved these groovy floral sunglasses by Quay Eyeware (no I didn't misspell that) out of Australia.

Finally, where else is better to wear your groovy sunglasses than on a fabulous patio with this furniture I found through the Threshold Furniture blog. Yes, even though I am to "want less", I want this patio furniture in the compound!

Here's to a Happy Spring. And to a fabulous Arcade Fire show tonight also featuring Explosions in the Sky at The Backyard. I certainly do hope May brings more brightness and this is a great way to kick it off!

A Royal Wedding: Through the eyes of a 3 yr old

I wasn't really into all the hype of the Royal Wedding. It's not that I have a lack of respect for either Kate Middleton or Prince William (I actually like them a lot and thoroughly love reading and learning more about the entire Royal Family) but I just couldn't get into it for some reason. Maybe it's because I was only 5 years old when the last big Royal Wedding occurred and it's not a big memory for me. Or, maybe it could be that I subconsciously avoid all things the media tries to SLAM in my face. I don't know!

But, when I saw the wedding through the eyes of a 3 year old, my thoughts all changed. It was fascinating how focused and AMAZED Lola was watching the wedding. It was like I was sitting there watching a 3 year old instantaneously become filled with inspiration and delight! As for me, I also thought it was amazing! The love Kate and William share really showed through in the ceremony. You also can't help but adore the tradition.

Here is Lo completely focused watching the wedding.

Lola is TOTALLY into all things princess right now (natural I guess but I have more to say on this subject...another blog). I liked that she was watching a princess that wasn't all decked out in all sparkles, tutus, pink and all things other that it seems all "advertised" princesses are decked out in these days. This was a true princess story and I loved that she was able to experience it and I hope that she will always remember the moment.

As Lo was posted up watching the wedding, she was full of questions and comments like "Who's that man?" Answer: "That's the Prince" or one of my favorites was when Prince William and Prince Harry both got out of the car and Lo asked again "Who's that man?" referring to Prince Harry - We answered "That's Prince Harry." Lo's response was "Wait. So, are there two Princes?". Answer: "Yes." and tried to explain further. Response: "Why?".

Let me tell you...there were many, many, many "Whys?" thrown into the mix. The question "Why" is a pretty consistent big part of our life right now (like anytime Lo is awake the question is being spurted out at all times). Clay says he hopes she never stops asking "Why". I like this... if you think about it, it's such a good statement as "Why" is a great question to ask when it comes to so much out there in this world. Anyway, Lo kept asking "Where is the Princess?" Once she arrived the questions and comments started coming again... "Oh, she is so beautiful" or "Wow, Look at that dress!" This was one of Lo's favorite moments:

We got the whole "Mommy, Why is that girl carrying that dress?" I loved telling her who "that girl" was and explaining why she actually was carrying her "train". I also loved telling her "When Mommy and Daddy got married Ashley (who Lo LOVES) did that for me." Then I tried to explain the story behind a Maid of Honor and how they are special people in the brides life and how it's an honor to carry the train and stand beside the bride in the wedding. Lo was, once again, COMPLETELY fascinated. We then got out our wedding album. And, WOW, did the questions start a flying.

As we looked through the pictures, we found this:

I thought this was so fitting considering Lola loved and had so many questions when Pippa was carrying Kate's train. Lola stared at the picture for a while and then said "Where's Isabel and Caroline?". I explained how they weren't born yet. She then asked "Why?"....and then there was silence. Sometimes it's easier just to stop answering the questions rather than try to explain something you absolutely know a 3 year old won't get.

I want to end this blog with a special memory I have as it does have some royal connection. I remember as if it were yesterday exactly where I was, what I was wearing, who I was with and how I felt when we learned of Princess Diana's car accident. Maybe it's because it was such a historical moment but also this was the last time I spent true quality time with Clay's brother, Foy, who unfortunately is no longer with us. Oh, how I loved when Foy pulled his bright turquoise truck right up into Clay's parents backyard so we could all hear Robert Earl Keen jamming on his radio. Such a good time! A day I'll always remember. I wish I had more moments like this with Foy. He's still with us on a daily basis and he's of course always in our hearts. We talk about Foy every day with the kids and they say "Goodnight" to Uncle Foy's picture on the wall. We named Gaines after Foy (Gaines Foy) and now we love that every day he seems looks more and more like him with his red hair and big brown eyes. The memory of Foy will continue to be alive in our hearts.